diff --git a/lcm/drake_lcm.cc b/lcm/drake_lcm.cc
index 7eb5de839004..4cb93ef18d29 100644
--- a/lcm/drake_lcm.cc
+++ b/lcm/drake_lcm.cc
@@ -61,7 +61,10 @@ class DrakeLcm::Impl {
     // Create the native instance only after all other checks are finished.
     lcm_ = ::lcm_create(lcm_url_.c_str());
     if (lcm_ == nullptr) {
-      throw std::runtime_error("Failure on lcm_create()");
+      // The initialization failed and printed a console warning. Create
+      // a dummy object instead (to at least have something non-null).
+      lcm_ = ::lcm_create("memq://");
+      DRAKE_THROW_UNLESS(lcm_ != nullptr);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/lcm/test/drake_lcm_test.cc b/lcm/test/drake_lcm_test.cc
index 5ada76e2ca40..6d5c7f695ef0 100644
--- a/lcm/test/drake_lcm_test.cc
+++ b/lcm/test/drake_lcm_test.cc
@@ -77,6 +77,12 @@ TEST_F(DrakeLcmTest, CustomUrlTest) {
   EXPECT_EQ(dut_->get_lcm_url(), kUdpmUrl);
 }
 
+TEST_F(DrakeLcmTest, BadUrlTest) {
+  // At the moment, invalid URLs print to the console but do not throw.
+  // We probably want to revisit this as some point (to fail-fast).
+  EXPECT_NO_THROW(DrakeLcm("no-such-scheme://foo"));
+}
+
 TEST_F(DrakeLcmTest, DeferThreadTest) {
   DrakeLcmParams params;
   params.lcm_url = kUdpmUrl;